v14 Feature / Improvement Requests :-)

[Koyaanis]

Uh oh, a brand new version and already they have requests! (just shoot us/me! )

First off, congratulations on yet another great build of PL32!!

I noticed when playing with the "Create a Ruler" feature, I can't change the font nor colors of the ruler and numeral markings, I couldn't see the numbers and markings on a black butterfly's wing that I was using it on. So then I thought, I know, I'll just change that layer into a "difference" or "color type" later attribute. Well, then I found out that would only work if I applied it to each layer of that group individually. So this leads to my first request.

Can there be a feature so that when I select a layer group, or use the selected layers, to apply the layer type (normal, multiply, screen, dissolve, etc.) to all the selected layers or all of those within that selected group? This would really speed up some things I need to do at times.

2nd, can I have a way to change the ruler's font and colors so I wouldn't have to do the above??

3rd, when repeatedly clicking on the ruler size to get it to go below a unit measure of 1, the ruler keeps getting smaller, I don't think it's supposed to do that.

4th, can you fix what "Einheiten" means on my new Make a Ruler tool?

Thanks!

[Hoogo]

I found a way to solve that.
You need the attributes-dialog. Create the ruler, select the group and enable "draw isolated" in the attributes-dialog for it. Insert a working layer "curves" on top of the group, delete the middle point of the curve and increase the output value of the lower point.

[greenmorpher]

I found a way to solve that.
You need the attributes-dialog. Create the ruler, select the group and enable "draw isolated" in the attributes-dialog for it. Insert a working layer "curves" on top of the group, delete the middle point of the curve and increase the output value of the lower point.

Ah, great work, Hoogo. I love it -- Koyaanis caught on an attributers dialog thing! Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha !!!

Einheiten = Units

Always have http://babelfish.altavista.com/ handy!

Excellent release -- and running rock solid so far. For heaven's sake, don't tell Adobe. They'd be embarrassed ...

Cheers, Geoff

Geoffrey Heard, Business Writer & Publisher

"Type & Layout: Are you communicating or just making pretty shapes" -- Revealed! The secrets of how you can use type and layout to turbocharge your messages in print. See the book at http://www.worsleypress.com

[Koyaanis]

I found a way to solve that.
You need the attributes-dialog. Create the ruler, select the group and enable "draw isolated" in the attributes-dialog for it. Insert a working layer "curves" on top of the group, delete the middle point of the curve and increase the output value of the lower point.

Ah, great work, Hoogo. I love it -- Koyaanis caught on an attributers dialog thing! Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha !!!

Draw isolated on the attributes dialog, create a curves working layer, delete the middle point, increase the lower output value ... D'oh!!! How did I ever miss that!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cool, didn't even know that draw-isolated thingy was on that panel, not sure what it's for but I'll learn.

Leave it to our resident Harry Potter of Azkaban (Hoogo) to know about another of those sliding panels in the library hiding the vial of magic elixir. My magic twonger must be busted.

LOL!!

Okay, more stuff for me to learn. But really now, doesn't apply attributes to all selected layers or layer group just seem more logical? Even easier, it being a vector graphic, how comes it don't respond to fill and outline colors? Until then, this is an (ahem) "interesting" work-around that I'm sure must have a zillion other applications to which I will become accustomed once I learn how to thwart that nasty dragon in the majick forest.

Magick Twonger Practice time passes ....

Ah, even easier. Just use that "draw isolated" thingy in the attributes panel, then all those layer types apply. If I use a "remove" layer type at 200% it turns it white, if I use "color type" at -200 to +200 % then I get color variations (still hard to see on black though), likewise the "color", "saturation" and "luminance" types give me other variations at -200 to +200 %.

Cool.

Knowing I can always throw a working layer on top of it certainly increases the options about a zillion-fold, but for a quicky reverse-color ruler, this will work. (Though I still think it should follow suit for all font and other vector graphic options with the fill and other attributes you can apply with the easy toolbar buttons. That's what I need! AN "EASY BUTTON"!!!" U.S.A. humor, there's a commercial on TV where people just press the generic "EASY" button.)

[lutz]

I agree with you, version 14 runs very solid.
It is certainly not a big deal but the speed of the program startup seems quite a bit slower. On my windows PC version 13 was very snappy (faster than 12 ), version 13.5 had a waiting time that was a bit annoying and version 14 needs even longer.
No complaints about the image processing speed however.

[Hoogo]

Hm, I did not try to change the colors of the numbers and vectors themselves That seemed to much work at first glance, there were so many layers in that group...

That "draw isolated" is for me the way a group should always have been.

The layers of an usual group behave just the same as if they were placed directly into the document. Have a small layer in that group and a curves working layer above, and the curves will also change the background. And the layermode of the group itself is meaningless. The only function of the group is to move its layers around or to switch them on/off altogether.

An isolated group is like a document in the document. The lowest layer is like a background-layer, and the group itself has a layermode. The curve will not affect the background of the document, because it sees only the small layer below and lots of transparency. Isolated groups are very useful for combining masks.

[Koyaanis]

Thanks for the extra info about what "draw isolated" does and is for. With that useful of a feature it might have been a good idea to put it right on the right-click pop-up menu on the layer palette instead of hidden in attributes. If you hadn't mentioned it I may have never even known about it.

It might be nice too if when adding a new working layer it could be assigned to a group as you create it, in some way. Say if I have 3 layers, and the topmost layer is a group. Now I want to make that top group an isolated "draw isolated" layer. If I add a working layer on top of them all then it would only affect that one group that I wanted to add it to. Otherwise (and I've not gone so far as to try this), I would have to add that working layer as the topmost layer within the layers of that group, wouldn't I?

When I did the example you suggested for the Create a Ruler group-layer, it seemed to apply that curve adjustment to all the data and layers beneath the ruler too, not just the colors of the ruler. The background of the ruler acting as if I had just used a curve-adjustment layer on the background showing through.

Anyway, with more practice I'll get the hang of it. But I do think that "draw isolated" should be on the layer palette menu options. Since that's its primary function of setting that layer's attributes. The only time I use the attributes dialog is to open up a quick EXIF info panel or something of that nature.

There's a bug in PL32 for ages now that only allows me to keep 5 palette and list panels docked to the side of my workspace. If I add one more and open it up, then it automatically jumps to the side and opens up in its own docked column. Throwing off all my workspace setup.

So ... I don't keep the attributes panel open, the color palette, the shape palette, .... I have to only use the 5 most used ones. Tool Settings, Histogram, Layers, View, and Undo List. Anything else I have to open up special to use it, or leave it minimized off to the top of my title-bar (which is annoying as hell because they frequently change positions on their own after opening and closing PL32 and cover up my main toolbar buttons again and again, so I have to manually move them out of the way every time I open PL32).

If this limitation and bug(s) in PL32 didn't exist, then I could keep the attributes panel handy (among 3 or 4 more that I wish I could keep open and docked to the side of my workspace).

[Ludger]

Hi Koyaanis,

I have 6 palettes opened in only one column. Try to move and dock the sixth palette to your "standard" column, close the programm and restart it.

If that doesn't work create buttons on the button bar for all the palettes you do not have in the column.

Ludger

[Koyaanis]

I have 6 palettes opened in only one column. Try to move and dock the sixth palette to your "standard" column, close the programm and restart it.

If that doesn't work create buttons on the button bar for all the palettes you do not have in the column.

Thanks for the tips. I've tried that first way before. It seems to hold for a bit but the moment I try to go resize any of them, then they jump off into their own column again. Most frustrating. Automatically opening fly-out palettes docked to the side would be a good idea to implement (like Canvas has at the top, I'd prefer the side) but I suppose that would require a lot of programming overhead.

But THANKS for the idea of making buttons for them! That certainly helps a lot. Much easier than going up into a menu to find them. I just made an extra row of buttons for all the ones I can't dock safely. Each having their own easily identifiable icon on them certainly helps too. It was nice they included that for button-use.

(2 or 3 years into using PL32 now and I'm still learning some of the most basic things. Seems I get comfy with one way of doing things, and then get stuck in a rut, not learning more.)

now ... if only I could convince them to make it where I could just drag and drop a downsized graphic onto a button that has no graphic, to assign one to it. Instead of that rather convoluted method of finding the right layer number in that cfg file (which I've since forgot the name of) and adding it there ... hint hint.

[Hoogo]

The curve-layer has to be within the group, but above all the other layers within that group. You can imagine that draw-isolated-group as an external document. Such a document would contain only the ruler-layers and a transparent background, and the curve would not touch that transparency.
If the curve is above the group it sees the group and all of the backgrund, so everything is colored.

Oh, and you can hold shift while dragging a dialog, then it will not be docked. Don't know if this is useful for you, I just remembered another "hidden" key

[Koyaanis]

re: working layer inside of a "draw isolated" group

Thanks, but I tried that yesterday. The Create a Ruler makes a group of vector layers. If I add a topmost working layer inside of that group, whether as a "draw isolated" group or not, that working layer only affects the one vector object just beneath it (typcially the last numeral on that ruler, not all of them and the tick-marks). I suppose it could be done if ... all the ruler vector objects where in another group below that working layer? This would require a group 3 levels deep though. Far too much fooling around for what I need to do so simply.

The "draw isolated" and then making that group into a "remove" layer type seems to suffice for most purposes when needing some contrasting numberings and tick-marks.

Thanks for the ideas though!

[Koyaanis]

You know all those neat sliders for choosing the amount that you'd like to apply to some effect?

Say for example the -200% to +200% on the layer's dialog for how much you want to blend that layer with the rest....

Would it be possible, so that when holding down some extra keys, that slider could be given finer precision than jumping by 10 units?

Say if you held down:

Shift = 1's place changes

CTRL = 0.1 place changes

ALT = 0.01 place changes

Something like that?

Oh, and while I'm at it. I'd DEARLY love a way to add more default resizings options in the Scale Document / Layer panel. That 50% I never use. 25% or 33% I most often use. Couldn't we just type in the ones we like and it would remember the 10 last used ones, or something like that? That'd help A LOT! (Something that's been bugging me for years now.)

Those numeric sliders for Percent and Pixel (or measure) would be a nice touch on that "Scale" panel too.

[Hoogo]

Hm, I created the working layer while the group was marked, so it was created with the correct size. After that I dragged it into the group. When the uppermost textlayer was marked the working layer has only the size to fit this one, but you can scale it afterwards.

[Koyaanis]

Hm, I created the working layer while the group was marked, so it was created with the correct size. After that I dragged it into the group. When the uppermost textlayer was marked the working layer has only the size to fit this one, but you can scale it afterwards.

Ah! That done solveded it! It was a matter of what order to create the steps in and where to put the working layer. Thanks! I can make all sorts of purty colors now. I particularly like making it a "difference" or "exclusion" layer type after that. Then the numerals and tickmarks auto-adjust in contrasting hues for whatever background colors/intensities they happen to be placed over.

Thanks!

[Ludger]

Perhaps you can save the steps as an action? Don't know ...

Ludger